Monday, March 30, 2009

An interesting Duke transfer, and 7 days til Opening Day

Word is that Seth Curry, the brother of Stephen Curry and leading Freshman scorer this season for Liberty, is transferring to Duke. This is quite a news nugget since he would be a great addition for the Dukies as a slashing PG, and a scorer to boot. With Carolina losing all of their talent, that was initially planned to leave last year but the NBA wouldn't take them, I'd say the Dukies would be front runners in the ACC next season. Now, if we can get UNC to choke it up again this year and send the baby blues home crying, all the better.

Oh, and in case your MLB season countdown clock need an update or new batteries, we're down to 7 days until opening day. Beckett will be the opening day starter.




Thursday, March 26, 2009

Now...its baseball season

Your two leading scorers can't go 4 for 32 and expect to win. That about sums it up. Wildcats win it by what....20?

I held off posting until the Dukies ended their run. Call it superstition, or whatever. Welp, it ended tonight. Villanova took it to them. Superb in your face man to man defense, and some crappy run and too tight offense by Duke. They played too scared much of the time. There will be plenty of smack talk out there by the Duke haters. Heck, I already got a pass on message from a friend of my son's asking me about those Wildcats. It happens. Clemson blew us out on one of those crappy shooting nights and they didn;t go all that far in the tourney did they.

Villanova is better than the Tigers though. They'll be a hard out for Pittsburgh, who I have picked to win the whole thing. I think it was a good year for the Dukies and now we move on. Here's to the out going Seniors, Greg Paulus and the like, and welcome to the incoming Freshmen. Message to G- Don't even think about turning pro ok? Come back and lead us next year. You just might get your jersey in the rafters.

For now, salute, and let the Banner play, and LET'S PLAY BALL!!!!!!

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Youk back from WBC too

Kevin Youkilis is back from the WBC early with a slight ankle problem. He'll just rest it for a few days. Now if we can keep Dice-K from pitching too much, I'll feel alot better post-WBC. Pedroia looks to be fine and might play some tomorrow. Bard is gone, so I guess Kottaras will be good to go with Wake. With some work and continued playing time, could he be our catcher of the future?

Oh, and there's that tournament starting up with that ball through the hoop thing. Dukies got a late slot tomorrow so we'll see how they show to tip it off.

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Holy Sh*t Dukies! Oh Sh*t, Pedie!

The ACC Tournament is down to two teams with the Dukies taking on Florida State tomorrow. After dispatching a tough B.C. squad of "Hey look at me!" A-holes last night and beating a valiant Marylard Turtles this afternoon for a third time this season, the Blue Devils are up to their usual business. With solid defense and decent 3 point shooting, we'll see where they go from here.

Now, from the WBC, words comes out that Dustin Pedroia is on his way back to Ft. Myers to have his left oblique checked out by Red Sox doctors. There's more info here as well. We'll see what the docs say and hope for the best. Shooting pain is never a good thing I would think.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Comcast dropping NFL Network?? Hmmm...

The NFL has been the poster child in recent times on how to promote a league, build up a successful product and generate lots of cash. In most circles, the NFL is the 'she-it', and the other sports aren't even close. One thing I've always thought was the NFL screwed the pooch when they launched the NFL Network. They believed too much of their press and hype, and asked for too much of the moon. They found it hard to find takers to negotiate up to the level they felt they were due for a new channel launch. They had to take their NFL packages into space with DirectTV, and thought fans would be in such an uproar when they took late season games away with their own network coverage. I haven't heard much about that lately.

Now, word is Comcast is going to drop them when their deal expires in April. Note this is on the heels of MLBN launching earlier this year with 50 millions subscribers from the get-go on most cable systems digital tiers, and NBA-TV making arrangements to increase their coverage in a similar way. The NFL would be stupid not to come down off their high horse and settle something to continue to expand their product, instead of looking like greedy bastards. (Oh, sorry, Jerry Jones is their network committee chairman, so scatch that). 

Anyway, the NFL probably would be best served to pitch their NFL package to the cable companies after 2010 (when the DirectTV contract expires) and negotiate with the broader cable companies for coverage. If its good enough for baseball and basketball, it should be ok for the NFL. Otherwise, just go away. 

Monday, March 9, 2009

Pedie at the WBC

I wasn't all that excited about the WBC, but it has been drawing me in some. Its hard to not be thrilled at the sight of competitve baseball being played, and players giving a damn. Dustin Pedroia is keeping a blog during the WBC, which is cool. Insight from within is always a good read. I wasn't aware Dustin hadn't homered opposite field before in his career which made his long drive last night even more impressive, though it fell just short. Seems dude is getting locked in and showing some power already.

The Dukies lost again to the rival Tar Heels, 79-71. It was a pretty tight game throughout with the score seperation remaining under 7 points until the final minutes. The Blue Devils played rather well considering, but couldn't quite matchup enough to pull off the upset when the game got late. Now its off to the ACC Tournament this coming weekend. The Dukies go in as the #3 seed behind UNC and Wake Forest. We'll see if the team can keep improving, get healthy, and get ready for the Big Dance the following week.